Sky TV sale away for $815m- trading halt lifted

Shares in Sky TV will resume trading on the NZX this morning, after the company said News Corp had successfully sold its 43.6pc stake in the company. Photo / NZ Herald

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has completed the $815.3 million sale of its stake in local pay-TV operator Sky Network Television.

The global media empire slated for a demerger along publishing and broadcasting lines later this year sold its 43.6 per cent stake in Sky TV at $4.80 a share in an underwritten placement to institutional investors. Sky TV today said the sale has been completed.

A trading halt on the shares put in place for the sale has now been lifted. The stock last changed hands at $5.17 on Friday.

Murdoch's exit from the pay-TV firm comes four months after New Zealand's billionaire Todd family sold its 11 per cent stake for $218 million at $5.05 a share. That was a discount of 5.8 per cent at the time. News took the cornerstone stake in Sky TV via a merger with Independent News Ltd in 2005.

The stock is rated an average 'outperform' based on nine analyst recommendations compiled by Reuters, with a median target price of $5.535.

Last week, the New Zealand pay-TV operator reported a 9 per cent lift in first-half profit to $68.2 million, with a total subscriber base at 846,988.